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Now Blatter Is Out, What Happens Next For FIFA?

ITN sports editor Steve Scott on what we can expect next from football’s governing body...

No World Cup for England

“As it stands, Russia and Qatar are still very likely to host the next two World Cups – it’s hard to see anything being moved to England. The hosts have spent
a lot of money already, so the legal implications of moving a World Cup would be mind-boggling.”

Bidding will be cleaner

“We will never again have the situation where 20 or so men sit around a table deciding the next host. That is a breeding ground for corruption and collusion: ‘You vote for me and I’ll vote for you.’ It will become more transparent now. The circus of Russia/Qatar will never be repeated.”

Uefa must get smarter

“Uefa as an organisation is not well-liked globally – and the FA is probably the least-liked football association in the world, because there’s a long-standing perception that England has an arrogance and thinks it runs the sport. Uefa’s influence is actually limited: it only has 53 associations out of 209 members of Fifa. Uefa is isolated from the rest of the world, so now needs to play the political game better.”

No hiding places any more

“The people within Fifa always saw Zurich as a safe haven. But this time, prompted by the federal investigation in the US, the Swiss have now stepped in and worked with the Americans on looking into how the World Cups were awarded. The US isn’t doing this for PR – they want to root out wrongdoing.”